3 Things Every Social Marketer Needs to Know in 2016

We love data. That’s why we pored over 2015's key numbers to identify what every social marketer needs to know for 2016.

1. Social Customer Care Is Not Dead

Social customer care is far from dead. In 2015, brands were asked more questions on social media than ever before - 59% more than in 2014! That’s over 34.9 million questions on Facebook and Twitter combined. Only 61% of those questions were addressed, leaving many sales opportunities and customer retention to fall by the wayside.

Despite the fact that Facebook introduced direct messages to brands in 2015, customers continue to reach out on the comment section. There will always be a need for brands to address these comments - responding improves customer retention and creates positive brand affinity!

It’s clear that social customer care continues to reign. Brands have invested more into social customer care as demand has increased, but not nearly enough to keep up with the tidal wave of questions that continue to rise every quarter. Social customer care is far from dead.

Telecommunications brands receive more questions than any other industry on Facebook and Twitter. Late last year we took a look at the world’s busiest telco brands to discover social care best practicesthat can be applied to any industry. Their customers actually came to them with different types of requests depending on the platform. The bottom line: marketers need to understand what their customers want from them on each platform, and build their teams accordingly. (If you want to get ahead and meet the demand, you’ll need ace social media management to do the trick. Learn everything you need to know about social customer care in 2015.)

2. Native Videos Are HUGE in 2016

Native videos will become an even bigger focus for social marketers this year. 2015 saw an array of new features introduced across social - animated GIFs on Facebook, 360° videos, and Periscope overtook Meerkat as the world’s premier social media video live-streaming service. Find out how native videos dominated Facebook adsin 2015.

We can see that Facebook native videos were shared much more on the platform than any other social media channel.

“On Twitter, native videos made up 60% of all content published by the top brand pages as of November 2015. 40% of that content was recorded video, and 20% was live streamed.”

Native videos became the the fastest-growing ad form on social media. Facebook native videos saw tons of engagement - over 178.5 million interactions on the platform, compare that with YouTube videos shared on Facebook that only saw 950,000+ interactions, this was the reason why brands increasingly posted more Facebook native videos. Bottom line? If you’re going to post a video, post native videos on the platform that supports them.

3. Facebook - The Importance of Paid Advertising

Social marketers will need to understand the battleground of paid advertising on Facebook in 2016. Facebook for business has matured with an array of targeting options which has helped fuel ad spend on Facebook. In fact, 80% of brands promoted their posts on Facebook, of them, on average brands promoted 21% of posts.

Looking to master Facebook advertising?

It’s important to understand your own competitive paid climate before determining the right level and frequency at which to invest. We found that the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) verticals promote the most - FMCG Food, Beverages, and Alcohol have the highest promotion ratios globally. If you’re a social media marketer in any of these industries, you know how fierce the competition for reach and engagement can be.

Communicating to your Fans with stellar content is important, but so is reaching the right audiences beyond your Profile or Page. To gain a competitive edge on social media, it’s critical that you know how much your competitors are promoting as well. Social marketers will need to understand the battleground of paid advertising on Facebook in 2016.

If you want to succeed in this constantly shifting landscape, you’ll need the right tools for the job. WithPromoted Post Detection in Socialbakers Analytics, you can uncover your competitors’ paid strategy and understand the effectiveness of your paid content in the context of your competition. For 2016, social customer care still reigns supreme, you should be posting more native social media videos, and it’s time to put budget where it matters most. Watch out for our weekly Social Media Minute video series to keep up with the latest trends and innovations in this constantly shifting landscape. And don’t forget to join us in May for Engage Prague 2016- the world’s biggest social media educational summit to help you stay ahead of the curve with some of the greatest minds in the industry.